Israel in 1999

20,320 sq km (7,846 sq mi), not including territory occupied in the June 1967 war (Emerging Palestinian Autonomous Areas)

Population

(1999 est.): 5,939,000

Capital:

Jerusalem is the proclaimed capital of Israel (since Jan. 23, 1950) and the actual seat of government, but recognition has generally been withheld by the international community

Chief of state:

President Ezer Weizman

Head of government:

Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and, from July 6, Ehud Barak

The Emerging Palestinian Autonomous Areas (the West Bank and the Gaza Strip)

Total area:

West Bank 5,900 sq km (2,270 sq mi), of which (as of October 1999) about 180 sq km is under Palestinian administration, about 3,720 sq km under Israeli administration, and about 2,000 sq km under joint administration; Gaza Strip 363 sq km (140 sq mi), of which about 236 sq km is under Palestinian administration and about 127 sq km under Israeli administration

On May 17, 1999, Labor Party leader Ehud Barak (seeBiographies), a former army chief of staff, became Israel’s 10th prime minister, defeating the centre-right Likud incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu in an early general election by a resounding 12% margin. In his victory speech Barak declared that he was determined to reactivate the stalled Middle East peace process and that, unlike the divisive Netanyahu, he intended to be “everyone’s prime minister.”

Two months earlier Barak had underlined his message of unity between western and eastern Jews (Ashkenazim and Sephardim, respectively), as well as between religious and secular Israelis, by launching “One Israel,” an alliance of his secular and mainly Ashkenazi Labor Party, former foreign minister David Levy’s Sephardi Gesher, and the left-leaning Orthodox Meimad.

In contrast, Netanyahu’s zigzag peace policies and erratic leadership style had fragmented the Israeli right and undermined his core political support. Former defense minister Yitzhak Mordechai, former finance minister Dan Meridor, and Tel Aviv Mayor Roni Milo broke away from the Likud Party to form a new, more moderate Centre Party; Benny Begin, son of former Likud prime minister Menachem Begin, left the party to head a new, more hawkish group called the National Unity.

Two days before the election, Israeli-Arab candidate Azmi Bishara, of the Balad-National Democratic Assembly, withdrew from the five-sided prime ministerial race, followed in quick succession by Begin and Mordechai. Mordechai endorsed Barak; Begin refused to do the same for Netanyahu. The final result was a landslide victory for Barak by 56.08% to 43.92% (1,791,020 votes to 1,402,474). Netanyahu immediately resigned as Likud Party leader and was succeeded by the outgoing foreign minister, Ariel Sharon, who was confirmed as party chairman in nationwide primaries on September 3.

Although Barak’s personal victory was decisive, his One Israel Party won less than 23% of the national vote and only 26 seats in the 120-member Knesset (parliament). The unique Israeli two-ballot system (one ballot for prime minister and another for a party) encouraged voting for small special-interest groups. No fewer than 15 parties won seats in the Knesset, and it took Barak seven weeks to form an eclectic seven-party coalition.

The new government was sworn in on July 6. Barak called it a “coalition for peace” and immediately embarked on a whirlwind diplomatic drive that included meetings with Turkey’s Pres. Suleyman Demirel, Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, Egypt’s Pres. Hosni Mubarak, King Abdullah of Jordan, and U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton, all of whom spoke of a restoration of trust in the Israeli leadership and new openings for peace in the Middle East. An early measure of the change in regional atmosphere was the warm reception Barak received from Arab leaders on July 25 at the funeral of Morocco’s King Hassan (seeObituaries) in Rabat, where Algeria’s hard-line Pres. Abdelaziz Bouteflika intimated that even his country was now ready to reach an accommodation with Israel.

Barak quickly reactivated the peace process with the Palestinians (stalled since Netanyahu suspended the interim Wye Memorandum the previous December) but proposed that the parties negotiate a new, improved interim peace package, with linkage to negotiations on a final peace agreement. The new deal, which was signed at the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on September 5, provided for the conclusion of a framework agreement on permanent status by February 2000 and a final peace accord by September 2000. In return for what he saw as Barak’s serious commitment to peacemaking, Arafat indicated that he would drop his threat to declare an independent Palestinian state unilaterally in May 2000.

Under the terms of the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement, Israel transferred more occupied West Bank territory to Palestinian control, freed 350 Palestinian prisoners, opened a safe-passage route for Palestinians between Gaza and the West Bank, and agreed to the building of a Palestinian seaport in Gaza. Leading Damascus-based Palestinian rejectionists, including Abu Ali Mustafa of Georges Habash’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Naʾif Hawatmeh, leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, waived their long-standing opposition to the principle of peace with Israel, and Mustafa returned to Gaza, hoping to influence the outcome of the permanent status talks.

Peace talks between Israel and Syria resumed in mid-December after three years of deadlock. After a high-profile meeting in Washington between Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk ash-Shara, both sides were optimistic about reaching an agreement that would finally resolve the Middle East conflict in its entirety.

On March 1, in the run-up to the 1999 election, Barak promised to bring Israeli soldiers home from southern Lebanon by June 2000. He said he hoped to end the unpopular 17-year-long war through an agreement with Syria but indicated that he would stick to the deadline even if such an agreement failed to materialize. In the fighting in Lebanon, Israel reduced the activity of its ground forces and relied more on air power, which seemed to have a deterrent effect. In early January the Cabinet had authorized in principle a new policy of retaliation against Lebanese infrastructure targets in response to Hezbollah Shiʿite fighters’ shelling Israeli civilians, and on June 24, in a series of devastating air strikes, Israel’s air force destroyed bridges, a telecommunications centre, and a power plant, causing blackouts in Beirut and inducing the Lebanese government to rein in the Hezbollah.

The ultra-Orthodox challenge to Israel’s secular democracy reached new heights in 1999, with an unprecedented 200,000-strong demonstration against the Supreme Court on February 14. The ultra-Orthodox had been stung by a rash of Supreme Court decisions, including rulings that exemption from military service for students in yeshivot (religious seminaries) was no longer legally valid, while shopping on the Sabbath in the secular kibbutz communal settlements was. At year’s end the ultra-Orthodox party Shas threatened to withdraw from the governing coalition until Barak agreed to increase funding for the party’s state-subsidized schools.

The economic slowdown of the preceding few years showed little sign of passing. The Barak government continued Netanyahu’s tight monetary and fiscal policies, although it did seem prepared to spend more on education and infrastructure. The tight rein won international acclaim and kept inflation relatively low, but the immediate cost was sluggish growth and continued unemployment. Barak had promised to stimulate the economy and create 300,000 new jobs over the next four years. His plan was based to a large extent on renewed peacemaking and regional optimism attracting investors and promoting growth.

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